Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 1 - 2025 i Audio Esoterica

The latest addition to Musical Fidelity’s high-end M8 range (which includes the M8x Vinyl phono stage reviewed on page 40), the M8x DAC ($7,200) has been meticulously designed to deliver the highest performance a DAC/headphone amplifier can provide at this level. To that end, the M8x DAC features a fully balanced design architecture, ultralow jitter technology, the use of Class A discrete analogue amplification and highresolution audio support — all to ensure it can deliver “exceptional audio quality” with as little noise and interference on the audio signal as possible. Inside are two 32-bit ES9038Q2M DAC chips in a dual differential mode, which feed the balanced output stage and headphone amp. A proprietary clock design ensures low jitter levels, as does an ultra-low-noise regulator optimised for hi-res audio. A key…

Having launched a specialedition active standmount last year in celebration of its 50th anniversary, of which only 150 were made, ATC is now bringing the special design to a wider audience by unveiling a mass-production version. The SCM20ASL become the British company’s most compact active speaker and has been perfected for small-tomedium listening rooms. ATC argues that while passive speakers remain popular for good practical and economical reasons — the company still makes several pairs itself, after all — active designs bring several performance benefits, including greater dynamic range due to the elimination of passive crossover losses; more crossover accuracy due to their fixed filter ‘load’; and improved driver control, frequency response, synergy and efficiency due to the amplifier and speaker being optimally matched and integrated. The two-way design combines…

Visitors to the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025 in Sydney last month were the first fortunate folk in the world to demo Yamaha’s two upcoming high-end headphones, which follow the highly acclaimed ‘special edition’ YH-5000SE that the company released in 2023 in its surprise return to the illustrious head-fi market. Almost as soon as the $7,499 YH-5000SE open-back over-ears launched, many, including us, wondered whether a more accessible version and a closedback model would come down the track, and the forthcoming duo are our answer. Set to go on sale this year, they solidify the company’s return to the audiophile headphone market and carry the weight of expectation in light of their sibling’s unwavering success. While information on both new pairs, including their prices, remains slim for now, we have been…

If the features of Musical Fidelity’s latest phono preamplifier were listed on a restaurant menu, our wife would be horrified. “What do you mean there are no chips?, we can almost hear her saying. We can also imagine Musical Fidelity’s genial CEO, Heinz Lichtenegger, rushing over to reassure her that their absence is purely down to the fact that only the highest quality dishes will do. In terms of amplification and specifically the M8x Vinyl, this translates to his use of discrete electronic components — individual resistors, transistors, and capacitors — instead of chips. The chips to which we refer are, of course, integrated circuits (or ‘ICs’), tiny monolithic electronic components that can perform multiple functions because encapsulated inside them are multiple resistors, transistors and capacitors. They’re called ‘chips’ (or…

NEWSLETTER NO.271 Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista DAC Wins Big Awarded DAC of the Year at the Australian Hi-Fi Show Musical Fidelity continues to dominate the hi-fi world, with their Nu-Vista DAC earning the prestigious DAC of the Year award at the recent Australian Hi-Fi Show. The Nu-Vista range, named after its signature Nuvistor valves, includes eight models—amplifiers, DACs, phono stages, and more—all renowned for their exceptional performance. Since its launch, the Nu-Vista lineup has consistently won global accolades, offering top-tier sound at prices that undercut much of the competition. The Nu-Vista DAC delivers breathtaking clarity and depth, making it a standout in digital audio. Whether you’re upgrading your system or building from scratch, Musical Fidelity’s award-winning range is a benchmark for quality and innovation. Visit us to experience its magic firsthand. Scan…

Take a long, hard look at Vitus Audio’s SD-025 Mk.II streaming DAC and you would be hard-pressed to differentiate it from many other of the Danish brand’s products. The company’s founder and head designer, Hans Ole Vitus, uses exactly the same chassis for many of his models, which not only ensures visual continuity for those wanting to, say, use an SD-025 Mk.II with one of his amplifiers but also makes the chassis less expensive to produce as he can order them in greater quantities. Indeed, when a chassis costs as much to build as the one Vitus uses, we’re talking about a not-inconsiderable saving. When the very large and heavy (31kg!) carton containing our review sample arrived, we initially thought someone had made a mistake and sent us one of…

HEINZ LICHTENEGGER ➤ Pro-Ject Audio Systems Tosca by Puccini, Leontyne Price, Di Stefano, Taddei / Vienna Philharmonic with Herbert von Karajan (Decca, 1963) My favourite opera record. This recording is unbelievably dramatic and super powerful, yet there is also incredible timbre in the voices. This one is only for bigger systems, so you can really experience the big dynamic shifts that show how amazing Tosca is. Don Juan by Richard Strauss, Tod und Verklaerung, Also Sprach Zarathustra / Vienna Philharmonic with Herbert von Karajan (Decca, 1960) My favourite classical record. This record is from a series I created with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Universal Music, which included some favourite VPO recordings from the past. This performance combines the very best composition with the very best interpretation by a conductor,…

When we think of design icons in hi-fi and AV, we might turn first to Denmark, or perhaps the US, UK and Japan. But if you ask a photographer the same question, it’s more likely to be Germany, and specifically Wetzlar, home to Leica Camera AG, makers of legendary cameras since Oskar Barnack at Leitz (as Leica was officially called until 1986) came up with the first commercially successful 35mm still camera. In the 1860s, Ernst Leitz, a talented engineer, joined a small optical company in the town of Wetzlar to make initially telescopes, and subsequently microscopes. But while Ernst rose quickly to take over the whole operation, it was his son, Ernst Leitz II, who committed to building Barnack’s revolutionary compact camera, with its idea of using 35mm cinema…

Dan Wright originally planned a future in journalism, and to that end spent a year in Australia as an exchange student. On his return to the USA, however, he decided against journalism and instead enrolled in a computer engineering course at Anchor–age University in Alaska. He later switched courses and universities to graduate from Fairbanks University with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering. Taking advantage of his qualifications, Wright began a career as a professional engineer specialising in heating and ventilation systems. However, having long been interested in designing and building audio equipment, Wright deployed his multiple skills to develop a part–time business improving existing audio products by upgrading various components within them, such as op-amps, resis+tors and capacitors. He also modified and improved the power supplies inside various other…

In our experience, the perfect listening room doesn’t exist. Yamaha’s latest effort, however, is one of the best we have come across in years. It was developed with a scientific approach and then fine-tuned by ear. This newly developed demo space is located in the confines of the company’s impressively large piano manufacturing facility near the central Japanese city of Kakegawa. Here, Yamaha builds most of its flagship 5000 Series products, including the GT-5000 turntable and the high-end headphones discussed in the pages prior. We are here to tour the manufacturing facility and are surprised to find that the 5000 Series is pretty much handmade. There are no extensive production lines for either the pre/power combination or the rather brutal-looking speakers; instead, there are carefully organised workstations where artisans assemble…

California-based Kaleidescape is a unique company with a unique offering: its players, servers and networking provide an alternative to watching movies via the usual streaming services or on disc. And further, it offers the ability to distribute its high-quality video and audio across multiple rooms in a home. It does so in style. Kaleidescape offers a beautiful interface on screens both large and small. And in an age where streaming services compress movies in ways we barely understand in order to squeeze them down unreliable pipes to our homes, the platform accesses the company’s own dedicated movie collection, downloads them in advance to a dedicated server, then plays them in full quality from cached content: no bottlenecks, no buffering. How full is full quality exactly? Kaleidescape notes that its video…

Leica’s second new–era shot at projection is, unsurprisingly, a smaller and more affordable unit – not strictly portable (it doesn’t have battery power and once on its optional stand the combination is more than 12kg) but fairly easily moved around the home, and less than half of its sibling’s price, at $5,990. It’s clearly cut from the same cloth as the Cine 1 and once again a collaboration with Hisense, clearly based on one of the Chinese brand’s own mini projectors (likely the C2 Ultra). It too has smart setup systems that quickly get the image into place and suitably squared up, wherever you may choose to shine it, and also has speakers (quite full and substantial, not weedy) and streaming built–in alongside several physical and wireless connections (two HDMI…